


Paranoia

by dlynn



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:47:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23855599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dlynn/pseuds/dlynn
Summary: The team has to deal with the Doctor suddenly feeling paranoid that authorities or others may be after her, and her health seems to be affected. But there may be unseen dangers
Kudos: 6





	1. Day One

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fan fiction ever, so please be kind. Also, I'm an American and not well-versed on British verbiage, so I went fairly neutral on the language and descriptions of things

The Doctor and Yaz enter the cave. "I just love exploring", the Doctor exclaims. Yaz smiles at the Doctor’s excitement. They were visiting the planet Antronis because the Doctor told the fam that the planet had wonderful views and very friendly people. After a couple of days there, the Doctor asked if any of them wanted to go cave exploring, and Yaz jumped at the chance. Ryan and Graham preferred to mingle with some of the townspeople, so off the women went to explore a nearby cave.  
  
The Doctor shows Yaz some of the moss and other things growing in the cave as well as the insects and other creatures scurrying around. “Ugh”, Yaz exclaims, seeing some bat-like creatures on the ceiling. “The things that look like bats are called Droni and they are wonderful creatures”, the Doctor responds. “They make great parents and their flying is a wonder to watch. I want to go deeper into this side tunnel. If you don’t want to follow, look at the drawings on the wall over there and wait for me.” Both slap on a communications device to keep in touch. The Doctor turns up her torch and carefully steps her way through the tunnel. Lots of little insects scurry around along with a few rodents. “Some real interesting insects Yaz,” the Doctor says over the device. Yaz responds, “These drawings are certainly interesting. Somewhat stick figure but kind of sophisticated too.” “Yeah”, the Doctor says. “Similar to Earth’s cave drawings. Wait, this is interesting. I’m pretty deep in the tunnel and there’s this opening to the side and I’m seeing an interesting insect-like creature that’s almost translucent. “The Doctor turns her torch to the insect just hanging on the cave wall. It is slightly bigger than the size of a hand and sort of looks like a cross between a centipede and a ladybug, only bigger. The Doctor thinks she may have seen it before when she was reading some books about Antronis, but she can’t quite recall the specific information at the moment. The Doctor turns away from the wall to think more about where she might have seen it. She turns back around and looks at the bug on the wall. Was it just watching her? Nah, that’s dumb, she thinks. But she still has this weird feeling that something was watching her.  
  
Yaz, engrossed in looking at the cave drawings, realizes the Doctor hasn’t said anything for a few minutes. “Doctor? Are you there?”. Probably really fascinated by the various creatures in the cave tunnel, Yaz thinks. Yaz waits another few minutes, then calls to her again. “Yes Yaz, I’m here,” the Doctor responds. Yaz thinks the Doctor’s voice sounds a little shaky. “Are you ok, Doctor?” Yaz asks. “Yes, fine, just fine”, the Doctor responds. “I’m returning to you now”. After a few minutes, the Doctor emerges from the tunnel. Yaz thinks the Doctor looks a little odd, maybe shaky. “Are you ok Doctor? she asks. “Yes, yes, I’m fine Yaz, the Doctor replies. “Ready to get back to the city?”. “Sure,” Yaz replies. “Let’s see what the boys are up to.” The Doctor follows Yaz out of the cave, her face scrunching up in unspoken puzzlement. 

The two women enter the city through the front gates, waiting as they are scanned from head to toe by biomedical and other devices and cameras. “They check us coming and going,” Yaz comments to the Doctor. “You’d think they’ve had a lot of issues or something.” The Doctor replies, “I guess they had a few pandemics in the past. Plus they cooperate with other law enforcement around this galaxy so they are on the lookout for fugitives.” The Doctor returns to the thought about pandemics, but then her thoughts quickly shift to wondering what fugitives were on the loose. Surely she couldn’t be one of them? Nah, she thinks, she hasn’t done anything nefarious for awhile. The scanners and the connected computer quickly shift through the information they scanned on the two women. There’s nothing that has a real-time alert that needs immediate notice. The computer notices some of the information on the Doctor visitor has come up as a possible positive, but there are no real-time alerts associated with the information, so it saves the information for a later look by a technician. At that point, the scanning is done and the women are allowed to exit the scanning area and enter the city proper. 

The ladies catch up with Ryan and Graham back at their cottage suite. “Did you have a good time this afternoon?” Yaz asks the men. “Yeah”, Ryan responds. “Possibly made some new friends.” “Perhaps even a new lady friend,” Graham teases. Ryan blushes. “Enough Grandad!” he pleads. They all easily laugh at the teasing and Ryan’s response. “I guess the trash needs taking out,” Graham says as he stops in front of the trash bag in the kitchen. “I’ll do it,” the Doctor responds. She grabs the bag and heads outside towards the trash chute as the others talk and joke. She slows as she reaches the trash bin behind the suite. She pauses in front of it with a puzzled look on her face. She carefully looks around, as she has this odd feeling that she’s being watched. Not the general surveillance that the city has all over, but watching her specifically. She stands still for a moment and opens up her mind a bit, but nothing within range suggests a threat from people like her. She shakes her head and puts the trash bag into the bin. As she starts to head back to the cottage, she stops again and looks around. Not seeing anything out of the ordinary, she shakes her head again and heads back inside.


	2. Day two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor's paranoia ramps up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nothing to note at the moment

The Doctor wakes up with a start, realizing it is morning. She had gone to bed at a decent time but had a fitful night. She can’t shake this feeling that she is being watched and her dreams were weird but she can’t really remember them. She gets up and gets dressed and goes into the kitchen area where the rest of the team is having breakfast. “Sleep well?” Yaz asks her. “I did ok,” the Doctor responds. “You all should keep a careful eye out though. I have this suspicion that someone is watching us. Not the overall surveillance, but us in particular.” “You really think so?” Graham responds. “You think it’s the Antronis authorities? Why though?” “I don’t know who or what,” the Doctor says. “I just can’t shake this feeling, so be careful all of you.” Yaz asks, “So, Doctor, do you still want to go for that little hike up the Noterkin Mountain this afternoon?” “Yeah, that sounds good.” The Doctor responds. “Graham, Ryan, you want to join us or do you have something planned?” “Oh,” Ryan says, “you know I’m not good with climbing and scrambling around rocks, so I’m going with Graham to do some shopping and people-watching.” “He means watching the ladies”, Graham cracks. “Granddad, stop!” Ryan pleads. The Doctor responds, “Yaz and I aren’t going on our hike until the afternoon. Maybe we can join you in shopping this morning for a couple of hours?” Graham looks at Ryan, who nods. “Yeah, that sounds good,” he replies.

The team heads out of the cottage into the downtown area of the city to shop. Yaz notices the Doctor furtively glancing around. The team stops at a bakery. As they prepare to go in, the Doctor stops to look in the front display window at the decorated cakes and other goodies. Yaz notices her puzzled looks as she looks at the sweets. “You ok Doctor?” Yaz asks. “I wonder if they keep track of what sweets we eat?” the Doctor replies. “By ‘They’, you mean the authorities?” Yaz asks. “Perhaps they might if they think it’s important, given the amount of surveillance they do.” The Doctor replies, “I need to be careful so not to get too much of their attention. Don’t want to get turned over to someone.” “Like who?” Yaz asks. “Whoever might be watching us,” the Doctor replies. Yaz looks a little concerned as the team heads into the store. All four choose sweets to buy. The Doctor loads up on some sweets she tried when they first got here. But then she stops in the middle of gathering the items. She again has this feeling of being closely watched. She rethinks her choices and puts more than half of them back. “You didn’t want the things you were choosing earlier?” Yaz asks. “Can’t make myself too noticeable or people will start asking questions,” the Doctor replies. Yaz thinks to herself that the Doctor is acting a little too strangely, even for her, and that she’ll have to watch her a little more closely. The team buys the sweets they’ve chosen and heads to a restaurant for lunch before Yaz and the Doctor go on their hike.

After lunch, Yaz and the Doctor pick up some sandwiches and water to go with their sweets and head out on their hike. They reach the small mountain in 30 minutes and start to head up the gentle slope. About a half hour into the hike, the Doctor stops and starts to scan the area with her sonic. “What are you doing Doctor?” Yaz asks. “Scanning for monitoring equipment or someone checking us out nearby,” the Doctor replies. “The government’s surveillance seems mostly in the cities and towns,” Yaz says. “People have indicated to me they only have sporadic monitoring in the outlying areas like this.” “Can’t be too careful,” the Doctor responds. “Especially when it comes to me.” “See anything?” Yaz asks. “No, nothing that seems to indicate we specifically are being watched,” the Doctor responds, “but I know we’re being watched.” “Ok,” Yaz says, “but if you can’t see anyone, maybe relax a bit for now, and let’s continue our hike.” They continue hiking up the hill, but the Doctor keeps an eye out. At a good stopping point on the mountain, the ladies stop to eat some of their food and water. Yaz notices the Doctor still seems on edge. Suddenly the Doctor stands up and runs some distance away, waving her sonic in the air. “I know you’re watching us!” She yells to the air. “Show yourselves, you cowards! Come on out and we’ll do this one on one!” Yaz watches her running around and is pretty alarmed at this point. “Doctor, you need to calm down! There’s no one here.” “They’re here! They just won’t show themselves!” the Doctor responds. She is breathing hard at this point, waving her sonic around but getting nothing of what she wants from it. She finally stands still, frustrated. “Maybe we should go back to the city, Doctor,” Yaz says. The Doctor continues to stand, looking around and using her sonic, but getting nothing. “Ok,” she says, “I need to keep alert though.” Yaz is fairly worried now, but is keeping calm for the Doctor’s sake. She’ll need to talk to the boys when they get back and try to figure out what to do. The two start back down the mountain, with the Doctor continually on alert for what is around. 

After returning to the base of the mountain, they walk the half hour or so back to the city. The ladies reach the city, first entering the scanning area to be scanned from head to toe. The Doctor looks nervously at all the scanning equipment as it works on her, realizing that she is sweating some. Just as it did the previous times, the system shifts through the information it has just scanned of the two ladies. It notes again there’s no real-time alerts for any of the information, but it does note again that there’s something found for the Doctor visitor that needs checking later by a technician. With the scanning finished, the ladies exit the scanning area and enter the city proper. The Doctor looks back at the scanning area, frowning, wondering how many eyes were on her right now. Yaz notices her actions but doesn’t say anything for now, though she is getting more and more worried. 

They return to the cottage and note Graham is napping while Ryan apparently is out. “Doctor,” Yaz says, “you should follow Graham’s lead and take a nap. You seem over tense.” “Sure,” the Doctor replies, “I’m a little tired and could use a rest.” The Doctor heads to her bedroom. Yaz notices Ryan’s note on the kitchen table, saying he would be back at a certain time. Yaz sits on the couch, considering whether to wake Graham up and talk to him about the Doctor’s state of mind or just wait until Ryan gets back in an hour or so. She opts for the latter for now and tries to calm her mind by reading a book. 

The Doctor lays down on her bed and tries to sleep, but her mind races. She gets up after a bit and goes into the bathroom. She looks in the mirror, frowning at her thoughts, wondering how she could figure out who is watching her. She suddenly sees something in the mirror and whirls around. There’s no one there it seems. She was sure she had seen something, but now as she’s looking around, she sees nothing. She feels agitated, but she doesn’t know what to do about it. She considers maybe something is wrong with her and starts to pull out her sonic to scan herself, but then stops and puts it back. She slides down the wall and sits on the floor, pulling up her knees and sits there, a little fearful and not sure what to do. 

In one of the city’s secure rooms dotted around the city, a technician goes through non-real-time alerts from the surveillance system from the city’s entrances, starting with the front entrance. She starts at the latest one and examines each to determine if it is a false positive or something to be handled. She gets to the most recent ones taken for the Doctor visitor. She frowns at the information the system gives and asks for more information, including previous scans of this person. She compares the scans from the two previous days with the scans when this Doctor person and her friends first entered the city. Definitely different from the others she thinks. She asks the system for more details on the scans from the last two days. As the more detailed information appears on her screen, she grows more alarmed. She definitely has to alert her boss and he’ll have to alert his bosses. She picks up the communications device and calls her boss to relay the information on this Doctor person. She assures him that the information is as accurate as can be and that there were several alerts of the same type on the Doctor in the last couple of days. He indicates to her he is taking her concerns seriously and will take it from there. Assured, the technician continues her scanning of alerts.  
  
Back at the cottage, Ryan returns and Yaz sits him on the couch. Yaz tells him, “I think there’s something seriously wrong with the Doctor. She seems to be getting more and more paranoid. She had a pretty big freakout on our hike.” Yaz gives Ryan the details of what happened on the hike and he agrees that the Doctor sounds off and maybe should get checked out in the Tardis’ medical bay or perhaps a local medical doctor since they wouldn’t have difficulty with handling an alien visitor. Graham has finished his nap and enters the sitting area. Yaz and Ryan fill him in and he agrees that something needs to be done, though he thinks that they should try talking to the Doctor first. 

Yaz softly knocks on the Doctor’s bedroom door. When she doesn’t get a response, she opens the door and looks in. She notes that the Doctor is not in her bed and quietly approaches the bathroom. She sees the Doctor sitting on the floor, apparently asleep. “Doctor,” Yaz softly says and shakes her shoulder. “Doctor, wake up.” The Doctor wakes up with a start. “Are you ok?” Yaz asks. “I guess I was tired and fell asleep,” the Doctor says. “Let’s get you back to bed so you’ll have a more comfortable sleep. Ok?” Yaz says. The Doctor lets Yaz lead her back to her bed and tuck her in. Yaz notices the Doctor breathing more heavily and sweating. “If you can’t fully sleep, at least rest,” Yaz says. The Doctor closes her eyes and Yaz exits, closing the door behind her. Yaz fills in Ryan and Graham. “I’m still alarmed at her manner,” Yaz tells them, “but it’s late, and maybe we should let her get what rest she can tonight and then talk to her in the morning about having her checked out.” Ryan and Graham agree and then the three agree that they’ll take shifts on the couch to watch over the Doctor as they would be able to hear if the Doctor’s bedroom door opens.

The Doctor fitfully sleeps, fearful of who was coming for her and her dreams seem very weird but she is unable to remember the details. She notes that her sweating seems to have increased and she also notes a small tremor in her right hand. She picks up her sonic from the bedside table to scan herself, but then decides against it and puts the device back on the table. She curls up in a ball and tries to sleep, but little rest comes for the rest of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will post a new chapter in a few days


	3. Day Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things really hit the fan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hang in there, it's a fairly long chapter

The Doctor wakes with a start. She realizes it’s morning when she sees the sun streaming through the window. She apparently managed to fall asleep at some point late the previous night, but she feels no better. She notes she’s still sweating and both her hands have slight tremors, plus her head aches some. The feeling she’s being watched has only grown worse since last night. She gets up and goes into the bathroom to wash her face. She changes into her clothes and exits her bedroom to the living area. She sees Yaz, Ryan and Graham are eating breakfast at the dining room table. “How are you feeling this morning?” Yaz asks. The Doctor doesn’t really answer. Yaz notes that the Doctor is sweating and her body, especially her hands, is shaking a little. She gives a look to the other two who slightly nod their heads, indicating they see what she sees. “Doctor,” Yaz says, “come sit down with us and have some breakfast. You can have the cereal you like.” The Doctor doesn’t say anything, but she walks over and sits down at the table. Yaz moves an empty bowl and spoon over to her as well as the cereal box and the milk carton. The Doctor shakily pours cereal and milk into her bowl and starts to eat. “Doctor,” Yaz gently says, “we’re a bit worried about you. You seem to not be feeling well these last couple of days. Maybe we should take you to one of the local doctors to get checked out. They are used to alien visitors so there shouldn’t be an issue with your physiology.” The Doctor says nothing for a bit of time as she concentrates on eating her cereal. Her headache is starting to get worse, as are the tremors in her hands, the latter of which Yaz notes. “Can’t go for a checkup,” the Doctor finally replies in a rather shaky voice. “They’ll find me and throw me into the deepest, darkest hole for the rest of my days.” “What would they arrest and confine you for Doc?” Graham gently asks. The Doctor spats back, “Anything they can find, for whatever reason they want.” She falls silent and continues to eat. The other three look at each other with alarm, but are unsure of the next step. 

Suddenly there’s a knock at the door. Graham gets up to answer it, while the Doctor hunches over her breakfast even further than before. Graham opens the door and finds a female Antronisian holding a briefcase. “Good morning sir,” the Antronisian says. “As you are outside visitors, I must complete a survey with your help to make sure that you were properly registered when you came here. It should only take a few minutes to make sure our records are complete and up to date.” “Of course,” Graham replies and lets her in. “My name is Tunik,” she says. “Please state your names for the record.” Graham responds, “I’m Graham O’Brien. Over there at the table is Ryan Sinclair, my grandson, our friends Yasmine Khan and the Doctor.” Yaz and Ryan get up from the table and stand by Graham. The Doctor tenses up at the intrusion but continues to eat, or at least pretends to, and tries to ignore Tunik. Tunik compares Graham’s response to the information on an electronic tablet she pulled from her briefcase. “Yes, that checks,” she says. “You’ve been here about 5 days now?” “Yes,” Yaz responds. “You’ve got a wonderful world here. We’ve really enjoyed the city and the surrounding area.” “I’m glad to hear that,” Tunik says. “We try to be very friendly and accommodating to our visitors.” Tunik looks over at the Doctor and notes her sullen, quiet manner and the slight shaking of her body and what she thinks is abnormal sweating. Yaz observes her glances at the Doctor. 

The Doctor jumps up suddenly from the table, knocking her chair hard into the wall, startling the others. She rushes to Tunik and gets right into her face, staring at her in a rather unnerving manner. “What are you really here for Tunik?” the Doctor demands. “Are you here to take me in?” “Uh, no,” Tunik responds. She notes the Doctor’s eyes are darting back and forth a little too much and she’s definitely sweating a lot and her body is shaking. “But you seem to be having a medical issue. Do you want me to call a doctor for you? We have several good ones in this city who know how to handle off-worlders.” “Uh, Doc,” Graham says with growing alarm. “Perhaps you should step back and calm down. Tunik is just trying to update her records.” “No she’s not!” the Doctor nearly shouts. “She’s here to make sure I’m here and report back to her superiors so they can come and drag me away!” Tunik looks at her with half amusement, like one looks at a crazy person, though Yaz thinks Tunik looks much less alarmed than she should be. Tunik turns to Graham. “I think she definitely needs some medical help. She certainly does not seem well.” Graham pulls on the Doctor’s shoulders and gets her to step back a few feet. He definitely notes the shaking and sweating. “Tunik, if you’ve gotten what you need, perhaps you should leave,” Yaz says. “The Doctor is clearly not feeling well.” “Yes of course, I…” Tunik starts to respond, as the Doctor suddenly lunges at her and slaps the tablet out of her hands. “Get out!” the Doctor practically screams. “Get out and stop reporting on me! Your people won’t get me so easily!” Tunik does not look happy as she picks up the cracked tablet off the floor and puts it back in her briefcase. “You just broke an expensive piece of equipment and my favorite work tablet. It’s probably best that I go now.” “Yes, you should,” the Doctor growls as Graham and Ryan hold her back. Yaz sees her out, apologizing on the way and closes the door. Outside, Tunik pulls a communications device out of her pocket. “Yes, she’s there,” Tunik says into the device. “She’s clearly having some physical symptoms and seems quite paranoid. The team should go in now. I’m returning to my office.” Tunik sadly shakes her head as she leaves. 

The Doctor is quite agitated and the other three are doing all they can to calm her down as gently as they can. The Doctor pulls out her sonic and starts scanning as she runs around the living area, shouting that ‘they’ were coming for her and the fam needs to take shelter. Yaz is near the front door and thinks she hears some footsteps and whispers outside. Just as she thinks to open the door and check, several figures burst through the door, armed with what look like weapons and clad in what looks like hazard suits of some sort, but much less bulky than what Yaz has seen on Earth. The Doctor screams and tries to point her sonic at several of the figures, but one of the figures fires a device at the Doctor’s hand and she drops the sonic and holds her hand in pain. The figures point their weapons at the four of them and shout at them to get on the floor with their hands out. Yaz, Graham and Ryan immediately comply, but the Doctor stands her ground, though with a lot of trembling and sweating. One of the figures shouts at her to get on the ground and the Doctor runs towards the back door, though Yaz shouts at her not to run. As the Doctor opens the door, she sees more figures clad in hazard suits and carrying weapons. She stops dead and suddenly freezes as one of the figures raises a device and shoots her with what looks like a dart. The Doctor falls to the ground and falls into unconsciousness pretty quickly. Two of the figures gently carry her back into the living room and set her back down on the floor. “Doctor!” Yaz cries out. “Please,” she pleads to the clad figures, “she sick and may not know what she’s doing. Please be gentle with her.” One of the figures steps forward with what looks like a scanning device and scans the Doctor from head to toe. The figure nods to the others and steps back. Two other figures step forward with some sort of carrying contraption and quickly put the Doctor in it and seal it up. The figure with the scanning device scans Yaz, Ryan and Graham like they did the Doctor and shakes their head when complete. One of the figures steps forward, pauses for a moment, and takes off their helmet, to reveal a male Antronisian. Addressing Yaz, Ryan and Graham, he says, “You three may get up now. My name is Anokin of Security Quarantine in this city. We need to take your friend back to our facility, per regulation 14-7, subsection 18, parts 1-5, per the Antronisian parliament code on Quarantine procedures. You three do not need to be held, but you can come with us if you want and you will be expected to cooperate and not get in the way. We must go now as time is of the essence. Everything will be explained to you at the facility, if you wish, but we must hurry.” Yaz signals to the other two to cooperate for now, though they are all worried about what is happening. Several of the clad individuals pick up the Doctor in the sealed carrying device and head outside to several vehicles, with the fam following.

The vehicles arrive at the facility Anokin mentioned pretty quickly and everyone gets out. The Doctor is carried inside by several figures, led by Anokin, and the fam follows, with rest of the various clad figures scattering. Yaz notes several more figures inside, all clad in some form or another of what appear to Yaz to be hazard gear of some sort. The Doctor in her sealed carrying device is taken inside of a room that has mirrors between other rooms and contain all kinds of scanners, some of which appear to be medical, and other surveillance equipment. The figures remove the unconscious Doctor from the carrying device and place her on a bed with several medical scanners and lock her arms and legs. They then leave the room, passing by Yaz, Ryan and Graham in the outer room, which the clad figures leave as well. Several Antronisians enter the outer room and sit at computer equipment that appear to be showing medical information, possibly of the Doctor. Another Antronisian enters the room. “Hello, he says to the three humans. “I’m Doctor Neprok. Come with me to an adjoining room where we can talk in private.” 

The fam follows Doctor Neprok out of the room and into an adjoining one where there are monitors showing the room they just left. “Doctor,” Yaz says evenly, “we need to know what is going on with our friend and why you brought her here. We have no idea what is happening or why your people burst into our cottage and knocked the Doctor unconscious.” “I’m sorry about all that,” Doctor Neprok responds. “Let me start at the beginning. Your friend there has been infected with a Scurrnarion Parasite.” The humans looks at each other with alarm but continue to listen as Neprok continues speaking. “These parasites were a scourge of this planet, especially about 300 years ago, and we thought we had destroyed them all or beat them back to near extinction about 100 years ago. After we gained valuable experience fighting the creatures and figuring out how to detect them, we added real-time alerts to our monitoring equipment about 200 years ago. About 25 years ago, after 75 years of no actual sightings and many false positives, we turned off the real-time alerts, but the system kept note of any possible sightings and technicians would go through the information every few days to confirm or not whether the creature had been sighted. Just yesterday, a technician confirmed a positive sighting for your friend. A review of previous scans suggests she was infected a couple of days ago in the afternoon before you re-entered the city.” Yaz shifts at the last bit of information. “I think this may have been when we returned from exploring a cave. The Doctor went into a tunnel and then a side opening. When she returned, she seemed a little off. She started to act more and more strange after that.” Neprok ponders this information. “Probably so. The parasite’s natural hiding place was caves. The technician alerted her boss who alerted his bosses, and I quickly got notified. We sent in Tunik to observe your friend who displayed the obvious symptoms of paranoia, agitation, body shakes and profuse sweating. The parasite latches onto the victim’s brain stem and its feelers enter the brain to suck on its energy. It causes the victim to become paranoid so the person doesn’t think to check their own health, and the parasite’s actions cause the victim to grow more paranoid, with body shakes, increased blood pressure, sweating, and the like. If not helped, the victim succumbs in a week or so, usually to a brain hemorrhage or massive brain swelling. It also hides itself by becoming invisible to regular light. We had to find some portable equipment to scan your friend to make the parasite show up and verify she had it.” Neprok brought up some information on the monitors that showed the parasite and various pieces of information about it. “So how can she be helped?” Yaz asks. “We haven’t dealt with this parasite for over 100 years,” Neprok responds, “so it’s taken us a little time to get back up to speed on how to get it to detach from a victim and kill it. We’ve had to do some very fast research on how to adapt those methods to our present medical knowledge and abilities. We plan to beam a particular energy at the parasite, which will cause it to go visible and then detach from your friend. It will probably be a little painful but it should work. We will then use another type of energy to kill it, which will end up dissolving it, so we must take care. If it detaches from the Doctor before we are ready, it could try to attack another person or escape. We are gathering the equipment now and should be ready in an hour or two, I believe.” “Graham asks, “Can we see our friend and talk to her for a few minutes, or does she need to stay unconscious?” Neprok responds, “It’s best if she just remains unconscious, but we are humane people, so we’ll wake her up and let you talk to her and you or I can explain to her what’s going on. But you must be in quarantine gear for safety reasons and it’s unlikely she will understand much or listen at this point.”

Neprok takes them to get suited up and they then enter the Doctor’s room. Neprok twists some dials on the monitoring equipment, then takes a device and places it against the Doctor’s arm where it hisses. Some sort of injection device Yaz thinks. The Doctor wakes up and looks around the room. Yaz notes how fearful she looks. “What is going on?” the Doctor asks. “Why am I locked up like this?” “Doctor,” Yaz starts, “you are infected with a parasite that is slowly taking your life and it’s making you paranoid so you won’t think to check your own health. The Antronisians and specifically Doctor Neprok here are here to help you.” “No!” the Doctor screams. “They just want to keep me prisoner or destroy me! You can’t let them Yaz!” “It’s alright Doctor,” Yaz responds. “They just want to help you and get rid of this parasite that’s invading your brain. We don’t want you to die.” “Liar!” the Doctor yells back. “Why are you working with them? How could you betray me like that? I thought we were family!” All three of the humans wince at the Doctor’s wild accusations. They know she’s very ill and out of her mind, but the words still sting. Neprok injects something in the Doctor’s arm and she quickly falls asleep. “I’ve sedated her. I think it’s for the best given her condition,” he explained. “It’s moderate sedation for now, but we’ll probably give her something heavier when we begin the process and probably some pain medication as well. You can sit with her for awhile, but then we need to prepare her when we are ready with the equipment.” Neprok leaves the room, as Yaz, Ryan and Graham pull up chairs and sit with the Doctor, with Yaz covering her with a blanket and holding her hand at times. Ryan watches one of the monitors that shows the parasite attached to the base of the Doctor’s head, with its tentacles burrowed inside her head. “If she regenerates, won’t it burn up the creature? Maybe we should let that happen? I’m just spitballing here.” he asks the others. “Maybe,” Graham responds. “But what if it prevents her from regenerating? Or what if it escapes just before she regenerates? That would put other people in danger. And if she regenerates, she would be a different person with a different personality. She’s said once or twice she typically holds back on regenerating until she has to, like when she gets a fatal injury. She likes the body and personality she has now and so do we. So I think we should do all we can and allow the Antronisians to do all they can to save her from this thing.” Yaz replies, “I agree with Graham. It’s what she would want.” Ryan nods his head in agreement. They continue to sit with the unconscious Doctor as long as they can.

After a couple of hours, a nurse comes in and tells the three that the Doctor needs to be prepared for the treatment and she will take them to a waiting area to wait until the treatment is over. The nurse checks on her device to see when the Doctor last had a sedative. She notes that the Doctor is starting to rouse and gives her a very light dose to keep her from getting agitated until the treatment starts. The nurse leaves to escort the fam to the waiting area and to check on something, and the Doctor manages to rouse herself. She’s confused and scared, but has enough presence of mind to try to figure out how to escape. She tests the cuffs on her hands and feet and realizes the one on her left wrist is a bit broken and looser than it should be. She uses all her strength to break free of it. She realizes the other cuffs are too secure to break them. She then realizes she’s still in her own clothes and remembers that she had grabbed her sonic after it was shot out of her hand back at the cottage before she tried to run out the back door. She manages to grab it with her free hand out of her coat pocket and uses it to open the other cuffs. She gets out of the bed and uses the sonic to mess with the monitoring equipment to prevent them from sounding an alarm and to make it seem she’s still in the bed. With the sonic’s help, she exits from the room and then she heads for the building’s exit. She has to get back to the Tardis. The ship will protect her from these aliens trying to hurt her. 

After about 15 minutes, two nurses enter the room to prepare the Doctor and realize she’s gone and sound the alarm. Doctor Neprok is informed after several minutes and is not happy. He finds the Tardis team. “I’m afraid your friend has somehow escaped. She badly needs treatment or she’ll die and there’s a good chance the parasite will escape. We’re still looking for her in the facility, but haven’t found her so far. If she managed to escape the building, where would she likely have gone in her state of mind?” The three look at each other in alarm and converse for a minute. Yaz offers, “She might be trying to get back to her ship at the cottage, assuming it hasn’t been moved. She also has a device that can unlock doors and mess with surveillance equipment. It was shot out of her hand back at the cottage, but maybe she managed to grab it before she was taken. While your people look in the building, we can go back to the cottage and look for her in the Tardis”.

Forty five minutes after her escape, the Doctor has managed to make it back to the cottage, betting that the Antronisians hadn’t moved the Tardis and she turns out to be right. She tries the door but it’s locked. “Let me in. I need you. I’m in so much danger. Please let me in,” she pleads to her ship as she leans against the door. The Tardis relents and opens the door. The Doctor falls into the ship onto the floor. She’s sweating heavily and her whole body is shaking, plus she’s got a very bad headache. She barely manages to stand and tries to get to the controls, but falls in front of one of the pillars. She rolls over on her back and suddenly suffers a seizure. The seizure finally stops after several minutes and the Doctor lays unconscious. Yaz, Graham and Ryan arrive at the cottage and go up to the Tardis. Its door is closed, but it suddenly opens for them. Surprised but grateful, the three enter the ship. Ryan is the first to spot the Doctor on the floor by one of the pillars. “Doctor!” Yaz cries. Ryan sits down beside the Doctor and lays her head in his lap. She’s barely conscious at this point. “It’s ok Doctor, we’re here,” Ryan says to her in as soothing a manner as he can. “She’s sweating buckets,” he tells the others. “She looks pretty bad.” The Doctor seizes again. Yaz tells him, “Ryan, put her on the floor and try to get her on her side, but protect her head.” Ryan moves the Doctor off his lap and sets her on her side, then removes his jacket to put under her head. “What about her tongue? Should I put something in her mouth so she doesn’t bite it? What if she swallows it?” he asks Yaz. Yaz responds, “Don’t worry about her mouth. It’s an urban legend and you can do more harm than good. Watch her and time her seizure. I’ll call Neprok.” Ryan and Graham do what they can to make sure the Doctor doesn’t harm herself from the seizure but it’s a major one and they’re scared. Yaz calls Neprok on the Antronisian communications device he lent her and he tells her he’ll be there shortly. The Doctor’s seizure finally relents after several minutes and she falls unconscious again. Ryan turns her on her back and makes sure she’s comfortable. 

Doctor Neprok arrives at the Tardis and knocks. Yaz lets him in and fills him in on the Doctor’s seizures. “That’s pretty serious,” he tells her. “It’s one of the later symptoms that the parasite causes. We need to hurry. My people will be arriving soon to transport her back to our facility to treat her, but I don’t think we have a lot of time.” The Tardis starts beeping and whirring and making other sounds. Graham notices that one of the steam monitor devices on the console is showing some information. “Hey,” he says to the other three, “you might want to look at this.” Yaz, Ryan and Neprok move over to the monitor. Neprok notes, “The information seems to be asking for what type of energy to use to detach the creature.” Yaz responds, “The Tardis might be trying to help. She’s sort of a living machine and she’s pretty versatile in what she can do. This could save time. Just tell her out loud what you need” Neprok seems skeptical, but he says out loud what kind of energy is needed for detaching the creature and then what’s needed to destroy it. The Tardis beeps some more and displays information on the two stages, with the percentage of strength needed to displace the parasite set for 35%. Unseen by the group, the Doctor regains consciousness and starts to crawl her way to the door. A force field suddenly descends on her, startling the group, and she’s unable to move any further.

“I guess the Tardis is taking care of business,” Ryan responds, though he looks at the Doctor with worry. Neprok seems a little concerned with what the monitor is showing. “I think that percentage is too high to start with. We’ve usually started a lot lower and worked our way up, at least according to the past literature.” Yaz responds, “The Tardis knows what she’s doing, as she knows the Doctor very well. She seems to be ready to do the treatment so we should let her. Time is of the essence, right?” In the meantime, the Doctor has managed to get to her knees and glares at the group. “What have the Antronisians promised you Yaz to work against me like this? Graham? Ryan? How could any of you? And you, Tardis. My beautiful Ghost Monument. You are working with them? Against me? We’ve been together for centuries. Partners. And you betray me like this?” The Tardis whirrs and beeps in response. Yaz sighs, pained at the accusations to both them and the ship. “I think it’s time,” Naprok says. Yaz tells the Tardis to proceed. A beam of light descends through the force field onto the Doctor, aimed at the base of her skull. She screams in pain as the others wince. After a couple of agonizing minutes, the parasite finally becomes visible and then jumps off the Doctor onto the floor a few feet from her. The beam on the Doctor goes away and another beam of light lands on the parasite and it starts to smoke. The Doctor looks over at the creature, with a look of fear and confusion on her face. After about a minute, the parasite is just a charred spot on the floor. The Tardis stops the beam and lifts the forcefield. The Doctor looks over at Yaz, but before she can say anything, she collapses on the floor unconscious. “We should get her back to the facility,” Naprok says. “She’ll need some treatment for the swelling on her brain and any other issues.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter will be posted sometime in the next few days


	4. The Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end of the story

The Doctor slowly comes around, trying to sense where she was. She is clearly in some sort of medical facility and in a bed. The smells indicate maybe she’s in the same place she was before, but that was a fuzzy time so she’s not sure. She finally opens her eyes and sees Yaz, Ryan and Graham sitting around her bed, with monitors beeping with her vitals. “Doctor,” Yaz says, “you were attacked by an alien parasite that burrowed into your brain. The Tardis helped us remove it and destroy it. You are being treated for the aftereffects, including swelling on the brain. You’ve been out 2 days since the parasite was removed. How do you feel?” “Like I’ve been dragged by a couple of trains,” the Doctor responds. “And my head kind of hurts.” Neprok enters the room and reintroduces himself to the Doctor. “Are you feeling any sense of paranoia Doctor?” he asks her. “Any feelings that people are out to get you?” “No,” she replies. “Just some head pain and a lot of fatigue. I’m not sure I can walk right now I’m so exhausted. How much trouble did I cause Yaz? I can only remember bits and pieces.” It’s ok Doctor,” Yaz says. “You managed to escape from this facility and make it to the Tardis. You led us on a bit of a chase. You accused us and the Tardis of betraying you. The Doctor winces at the last. “It’s ok,” Yaz continues. “You weren’t in your right mind.” “I’m very sorry,” the Doctor says. “Even if I was sick, I shouldn’t have laid into you guys like that. I’m very, very sorry. How can I make it up to you?” “It’s ok Doc,” Graham responds. “There’s nothing you need to do, other than listen to Doctor Neprok on your aftercare and get better.” Neprok interjects, “Doctor, I think the biggest issue you’ll have to deal with in the next few months is likely seizures. It’s possible things will proceed differently for you than they did the Antronisian victims, but that’s all we have to go on. Seizures with our people lasted up to six months, but they went quickly from daily seizures to weekly to monthly. You should probably stay here for another couple of days so we can monitor you and especially your brain inflammation. After that, you should follow up with your regular doctor and probably a specialist.” “I heal fast,” the Doctor responds. “But I think I can find a doctor or two that can monitor me.” “Doctor, do you need anything right now?” Yaz asks. The Doctor responds, “I sort of remember telling the Tardis she betrayed me. I need to apologize to her. Will you lot take me to her?” “That may not be the best idea while you are still healing Doctor,” Neprok says. “But if it’s for a short time with a nurse or two standing by, I can allow it.” “Thank you,” the Doctor responds.

A little while later, Yaz, Ryan and Graham, along with two Antronisian nurses, enter the Tardis, with the Doctor in a wheelchair pushed by one nurse and the other one following behind. “Tell us what you need Doctor,” Yaz asks. The Doctor replies, “I think it’s best if you lay me on the floor.” The two nurses lift the Doctor from her wheelchair and lay her on the floor. Ryan gets down on the floor and cradles the Doctor’s head in his lap. “My beautiful ship,“ the Doctor says to the Tardis as she looks up at the ceiling and then around the room. “We’ve been together so long, partners, for centuries, and you’ve always looked after me. I said some things earlier when I was in the grip of that parasite that I didn’t mean. I was out of my head and didn’t know what I was talking about. I know now you were only trying to help me. Can you ever forgive me for the things I said?” The Tardis beeps and gurgles as usual, but Graham notices that something whirrs on the console and then a biscuit is spit out into the cookie dispenser. He hesitates for a few seconds while the Tardis gurgles at him, then he takes the biscuit over to the Doctor. “Doc,” he says, “I think this is for you.” “Oh, a biscuit!” the Doctor happily responds, “She does forgive me.” The Doctor happily eats her biscuit while Ryan cradles her head as the Tardis whirrs and purrs, bloops and bleeps and the rest of the team and the nurses stand around her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it. A new 13th Doctor story will be coming soon

**Author's Note:**

> Nothing to note at the moment


End file.
